That could be extended to everybody. Refrigeration is a pretty huge part of electrical consumption in the US, I think it's on the order of 15%. Going with improved efficiency refrigerators on a national scale would go a long way.

naughtyrev:brimed03: As a former hall director, my gales of laughter are competing with my tears of empathy for the managing staff.

/the residents will just throw a sheet over the microfridge anyway. Most schools have a voluntary privacy policy about only looking at what's visible during room inspections.

Room inspections? When was this? I certainly didn't have any back in the late '90s/early '00s.

I was a dorm manager around 2004. Rooms were checked briefly, in the presence of the student before reading weeks and holiday breaks. We had old-ass radiators that had a tendency to explode if students had them set too low and/or left a window open. We only cared about your bong or underage booze if you left it out for your pre-arranged check, in which case you deserved to be busted for stupidity.

naughtyrev:brimed03: As a former hall director, my gales of laughter are competing with my tears of empathy for the managing staff.

/the residents will just throw a sheet over the microfridge anyway. Most schools have a voluntary privacy policy about only looking at what's visible during room inspections.

Room inspections? When was this? I certainly didn't have any back in the late '90s/early '00s.

My RA ("Residence Advisor"...fancy term for hall director) would walk by rooms say "I can smell stuff, but I can't see anything". As long as you had your door closed and he couldn't see it, he didn't care. My dorm neighbors had a deep fryer.

Funny how they are worried about microwaves and fridges. If they only knew of the countless contraband items we had in our dorm rooms they would've probably melted like they guy in Raiders of the Lost Ark

... and your Polar Fleece and your mountain bike, and it's tires; all your solar equipment; any leather shoes you own; anything with rubber or poly-synthetics. Anything that uses electricity. Etc Etc Etc. The only solution to an all green planet is to start collecting your own farts to power the single 12 watt bulb allowed, preferably recycled out of a mercury-less former CF bulb.

Clemkadidlefark:... and your Polar Fleece and your mountain bike, and it's tires; all your solar equipment; any leather shoes you own; anything with rubber or poly-synthetics. Anything that uses electricity. Etc Etc Etc. The only solution to an all green planet is to start collecting your own farts to power the single 12 watt bulb allowed, preferably recycled out of a mercury-less former CF bulb.

2chris2:Bar fridges can consume 800 watts, and having one in every dorm room adds up.

According to what I've read online, mini fridge use more like 80 watts of power, not 800. In other words, about as much as a light bulb.

This. I bought one for my daughter in the spring, the university she is attending had a power limit for a fridge (can't remember off hand what it was) and pretty much every model came in way under that. 80 watts seems about right for what I ended up buying.